Witch Hunt
by RogueWardenGirl
Summary: After a month of searching, Elissa and Talith have found Morrigan. Talith wants her back. Elissa wants answers. Morrigan? She wants something else entirely.


_So I spent five or so hours trying to figure out how start this, but I eventually gave up (sorry, not sorry lol) and decided to make it a oneshot about Elissa's meeting with Morrigan and the Eluvian. I'm sorry :( I haven't really played the DLC for Origins that much and I haven't played it at all for DA2, so excuse my half-assed attempts at it. I'll try doing a story about Awakening, but I'm not sure if I will be able to, as I've only played it once and didn't like it that much (once again, sorry). I'm also posting a small story about Elissa's time before Kirkwall and after the Blight, and then I'll get on The Agents of the Maker again. This is for you, KnightCaelum! Thanks for those suggestions! Anyway, I hope you guys like this! You probably won't, but here goes anyway._

I lead my new companions down into the ruins, looking around at a rapid speed. I'm not sure about this. Why would Morrigan be here, let alone want an ancient elven artifact badly enough to hide behind a varrteral?

This quest has given me more questions than answers. But I want the answers I came here for, and I plan on getting them damn it. Why did she leave like she did? What does she know about Hope and I? What does she know about my being the Agent of the Maker? I just...I need to know. I have to.

We turn into a room with a large rock outcropping. A huge mirror stands in the center, dominating everything. There's Morrigan, standing beside it. Talith starts forward, but I grab his arm, watching as the mirror's surface ripples like water. He seems just as confused as I am, but not nearly as confused as he was when I showed up at the Tower with Ariane and Wolf in tow. He wasn't very happy about me taking Finn with us when we went to leave, but after I told him we were searching for Morrigan, he demanded that I take him with me, and then got leave under the excuse he was going to watch Finn. And here we are, a month later, finally at the end of our hunt.

"Wait here," I say to Ariane, Finn, and Wolf. They stop at the base of the stony hill by what looks to be Morrigan's camp while Talith and I continue to the top. His Templar armor clanks and echos, but Morrigan keeps her back to us even when we reach the top. "Morrigan."

She looks back at me briefly. "Elissa. I see you brought Talith." She shakes her head. "No matter. I told you not to come after me. Some doors...should never be reopened."

I snort indignantly. "Good thing you're not a door then, huh?"

Morrigan laughs once, turning completely to face us. I glance at Talith, but I'm not sure what to think. His face is as blank as it ever was, but how could he feel nothing?

"Why are you here, Elissa?" Morrigan asks.

"Because I want answers," I say.

"Answers?" She scoffs. "What makes you think I have them?"

"Because-"

"Because I knew what you were before you told me? Because I had a child with Aedan to save your life?" She snorts, turning away again. "All of this...all of that...I only knew because Flemeth knew. Flemeth told me things."

"Things? Like what?"

"That you will become the leader of a heretic army in a matter of years. That the Chantry will wage a war with you. Things your Maker will not tell you." She shakes her head, slicing a hand through the air. "Enough of this. I assume you know what this is. I have gone to great lengths to find and activate this portal. Give me reason and I use it, and you will not be able to follow."

"They're portals?" Talith asks. "To where?"

"To another place, beyond this world and beyond the Fade. But this portal can only be used once more. Achieving even this much was...difficult."

"Then why haven't you left yet, if that's true?" I ask.

"I remained because I sensed Talith's approach," she says, looking to the elf with a genuinely sad expression on her face. "You kept the ring."

I step forward, and Morrigan reaches back for the Eluvian. "We were friends once, Morrigan. Please, I just want to understand."

"I am sorry," she says, pulling away from the mirror. "I truly am, but I have told you what I know."

"So that's it? All this way for nothing?" I demand furiously.

"I would not even know where to begin," she says.

I bristle inwardly, shaking in tune with Hope's buzzing. "Where's Aedan's child?"

"He is safe, and beyond your reach. All you need know is that the child is an innocent. He knows nothing of the destiny that lies before him."

"That's not good enough."

"Then what is your concern? That the child will threaten Fergus' children's claims to Highever? I will not share my plan with you. I dare not. If your trust is insufficient, then your anger will have to do."

"You lied to us all along!" I exclaim.

"Tis true I deceived you. I did not think the battle with the Archdemon would come so soon. And so I went to Aedan. I needed him, yes, but I also did not want to see you die. And here you stand, alive. So do not speak to me of betrayal."

"No more questions," I say, shuddering.

"Then allow me to provide you a warning." I just wait silently and she continues. "Tis Flemeth you should beware of, not me. Hunt her, if you hunt anyone."

"Flemeth's dead. Aedan killed her."

"My mother has tricked her way past death and more. She is no more finished than I am." She sighs, running a hand over the glass. It ripples with her hand, shimmering. "I thought I knew what Flemeth planned. I thought what she craved was immortality. And yet I was wrong. So very wrong. She is no blood mage, no abomination...She is not even truly human. The ritual was but a means to an end, a herald for what is to come."

"Why? What's going to happen?"

"Change is coming to the world. Many fear change and will fight it with every fiber of their being. But sometimes change is what they need most. Sometimes change is what sets them free."

"That's not an answer."

"It is all I have to give." She looks at Talith again, smiling sadly. "I cannot tarry longer. The time has come for me to go."

"Take me with you," Talith says, stepping closer.

Morrigan's eyes widen and she turns to face us again. "You...cannot know what you ask. Twould be better if you stayed. For you, for us both."

Talith glances at me awkwardly before saying, "I want to be with you. No matter what."

She smiles. "Then come, my love. We will face the future together." Talith goes to her side and Morrigan looks to me. "There is one last thing I must tell you-if you will allow me. I left you a gift, a solution to a problem all Wardens must face. The Dalish book is there...and something you will find of great interest."

"You don't have to do this alone, Morrigan," I say.

She looks at Talith, smiling fondly. "I am not alone. But...goodbye, my friend. If you are lucky, we will not meet again." Then she takes Talith's hand and steps through the mirror with the Knight-Captain in tow. My jaw drops as they vanish, but they're gone, as Morrigan promised. I hesitate before touching the glass. Nothing happens, and frustration floods me before I march back to Ariane and Finn. I go to Morrigan's camp, digging through her stuff. I find the Dalish book Ariane came in search of and find a leather bound journal. I tuck it into my pack and continue rooting around. I find nothing useful and am about to throw it in a fit, but I spot something at the bottom of her pack, something shiny. Curious, I pull it out and bring it up to eye level.

A necklace with a piece of lyrium connected to it. And it's red.


End file.
